Monday, December 6th, 2010

Last week in Science we discussed types of changes to the Earth, both fast and slow changes. In groups each student was given one of five types of fast changes to become an expert on and then shared with their group members. The first was a volcano, followed by earthquakes, floods, landslides, and lastly tsunamis. This week in Science we will begin discussing sedimentary rocks, fossils and paleontologists.

Sedimentary rocks sometimes form layers like this:

Fossils can be remains of plants and animals or traces and imprints of plants and animals.

A paleontologist is a scientist who studies once living things.

Today in the computer lab you watched two videos on brainPOP. You watched natural disasters and types of rocks. In your blog response answer the following questions...
1. what type of fast change did you study in your group, tell me one thing you learned about it. If you were absent write absent.
2. tell me one thing you learned about natural disasters from brainPOP
3. tell me one thing you learned about types of rocks from brainPOP

4. what are the three major types of rocks?

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Welcome back after a long Thanksgivng break, I hope y'all had fun. This week we are continuing our discussions of Weathering, Erosion and Deposition by learning about the slow changes that can occur to landforms and the rapid, or quick changes that occur. Today in class we discussed the formation of caves, and in the computer lab you watched the glaciers and mountains video.

Caves: stalactites, stalagmites, columns, cave pools

Glaciers change "V" shaped valleys into "U" shaped valleys:

In your response, describe how a cave forms, tell me something new you learned about glaciers and something new you learned about mountains.

Monday, November 15th, 2010

Last week and today in class we briefly discussed maps. During this discussion we will read from our Landforms book that will be accompanying us during our investigations and experiments next week. We learned that maps can have many different uses, and that there are many different forms. Two very important types are political maps, and physical maps. Political maps give information such as streets, cities, populations, city/state lines etc. Physical maps show us "physical" features of the Earth such as landforms, bodies of water etc. Click on the linked words to see examples of each. We learned that cartographers, are also known as map-makers, and that we would be "becoming" cartographers this week by making a map of the back of our school.




Also, this week we will begin our discussion of Weathering, Erosion and Deposition. Today in the computer lab the students watched a video called Erosion on Brainpop.

Below please comment on something new your learned from the video on erosion today and tell me something that you included in your map of the school.

Monday, November 8th, 2010

This week in Science we are reviewing forces such as gravity, friction and magnetism. We are also reviewing Light. Today, we discussed the words opaque, translucent and transparent, as well as transmit and absorb, while using mirrors, transparency paper, wax paper, aluminum foil, cardboard, the surface of our desk etc.

Tomorrow we will continue our review of these terms, Wednesday we will do a formal review for the milestone. Thursday we will take our Milestone and Friday we will go over our Milestone. Hopefully we will even begin Earth Science this week.

Today in the computer lab you watched a Brainpop video on Electric Circuits. Please tell me something new you learned from the video AND in class today!!!

Monday, November 1st, 2010

Welcome to a new unit. We are currently discussing Force and the different types of forces. Today, we made a Circle Map, thinking map, of a list of different examples of things that are pushed and pulled. The three main types of forces that we discussed and went in depth on are Gravity, Magnetism, and Friction.

Today in the computer lab you watched the Brainpop video on Forces as well. After you have watched the video come back here and answer the following questions:

What is something new you learned today either in the classroom or from the Brainpop video? Please explain what Gravity, Magnetism and Friction are.

Good luck, Mrs. E

Monday, October 18th, 2010.... Computer Lab

Welcome to our Science blog. We we utilize this blog to keep track of the fun things that we have been doing during the year. I will try to update this daily, however I can PROMISE to do it at least once a week. This is a place that you can leave comments to ask me questions about what is going on, see what our composition books look like, and keep up with what we are doing, find our vocabulary words that we are studying, see pictures of our experiments etc. We will occasionally do lessons on here as well.

Your first lesson begins today:

1. Go to www.brainpop.com

2. Follow the instructions that are listed on the sheet I gave you before computer lab on how to sign in to the account.

3. Watch the video titled Energy Sources, it can also be accessed by clicking the linked words in the list.

4. Take the quiz and print it out, it will be a grade

5. After taking the quiz, come back here to the blog and comment on this post. Your comment needs to include, something new that you learned from the video.

Saturation of Solutions Experiment

We explored solutions further and discovered the fact that solutions such as salt and water, can too be separated, by using EVAPORATION.

Below you will find a slideshow that shows our class making SATURATED solutions, and then pouring them into evaporating dishes, that we left sitting out over a weekend, to let CRYSTALIZE, so that we could study their CRYSTAL STRUCTURES. When a solution becomes saturated that means that no more SOLUTE can be dissolved into the SOLVENT. We discovered that 2-3 5g spoonfuls of salt will SATURATE a 50 mL vial of water. Water is often called the UNIVERSAL SOLVENT, because most things will DISSOLVE, or spread out, into it.

The key to making the salt dissolve in stirring or shaking... here are just a few pictures of us making the salt dissolve...

Mixtures and Solutions Slideshow

Below you will find a slideshow of two different experiments that we have conducted in class.

At the beginning are pictures from our first mixtures and solutions experiment in which we tested how mixtures and solutions could be separated. First, the students observed the three materials, (gravel, diatomacheous earth, and salt) using their five senses. We then mixed 5g of each solid materials with 50 mL of water using syringes. Each group then mixed the materials together and poured them over a cup with a metal screen sitting on top, they had record either yes or no, the material was separated by the screen. Then the materials we combined with the water again, and poured into an empty cup through a funnel and coffee filter, and then recorded either yes or no again. The results showed that The screen separated the gravel but not the diatomacheous earth and salt. The filter paper separated the gravel and the diatomacheous earth, but not the salt. We conclude from this that the first two combinations are called MIXTURES, and the salt and water combination is a SOLUTION. Solutions are different from mixtures, because one materials dissolves, or spreads evenly into the second materials. Mixtures can be easily separated. Solutions are explored further in another experiment.

The second experiment included in the slideshow, used the same materials; however each group was given the same bucket of materials, that also now included a magnet, and a cup that contained, salt, gravel, and a mysterious black substance (iron filings) and were told to separate all three from each other into three separate cups. The groups should have figured out that they could pour the mixture over a screen and the gravel would stay on top and the salt and iron filings would fall through. They would then run the magnet over what remained and the iron filings would be attracted to the magnet. Most groups did an excellent job of this.

For future reference, any blue linked words can be clicked on to see further information about that word.

Enjoy the slideshow!!!

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Well, today was the first day of Summer, I hope you guys are all enjoying it as much as I have enjoyed mine. We ended the year on a high note, and I hope you will all be as successful next year as you were this year. As promised, I will post at least once a week to give you some different things to keep you occupied and your brain working through the Summer!!!

Mrs. E

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Today we take our final benchmark of the year before the TAKS test. We will start small tutoring groups for Science based on the results of this test. The benchmark will cover everything we have learned this year from The Scientific Method to Landforms, and Natural Resources.

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Today in class we briefly discussed maps. During this discussion, we read from our Landforms book that will be accompanying us during our investigations and experiments next week. We learned that maps can have many different uses, and that there are many different forms. Two very important types are political maps, and physical maps. Political maps give information such as streets, cities, populations, city/state lines etc. Physical maps show us "physical" features of the Earth such as landforms, bodies of water etc. Click on the linked words to see examples of each. We learned that cartographers, are also known as map-makers, and that we would be "becoming" cartographers next week.

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Today we did not rotate, so I did not get to see both classes. The students took their February Reading Benchmark today, and will take their Math tomorrow.

However, in the meantime, here is a link that discusses the recent Port Arthur Oil Spill that would be good for the students to watch and discuss in regards to adapting to your environment, and coping with the changes to allow survival of a species... etc.

January 28th, 2010

This week was Science Fair week and the projects were great, I saw lots of focus on following the procedures and analyzing their data. One thing that could have had more time spent on was noticing and paying attention to the variables. Please take time to discuss this concept with your students at home. Here are a few of the projects that were entered.

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Today we went over our review for our Science Milestone that we will be taking tomorrow. It will review all concepts from the Physical Science unit. Tomorrow, we will take our Milestone, and then on Thursday we will begin our Earth Science unit. We introduced 11 new vocabulary words that will be part of this week and next weeks' discussions.

Our words added are:

Sediments

Sedimentary Rocks

Weathering

Erosion

Deposition

Mechanical Weathering

Chemical Weathering

Igneous Rocks

Metamorphic Rocks

Glaciers

Fossils

Friday, January 8th, 2009

Today, at Station 1 you will post your responses here:

1. Include what cards you liked, and some information about it.

January 7th, 2010

This week in Science we began talking about Forces and some of the different types of forces, such as gravity, magnetism, pushes, pulls, buoyancy etc. A force is a push or pull on an object, so gravity is the forces that PULLS objects to the Earth, Magnetism is a forces that PULLS magnetic objects together, etc. We discussed friction, and how it is the rubbing of two objects together that causes heat, we demonstrated this by furiously rubbing our hands together and feeling the warmth in our hands, we discussed how this is created on our tires when we drive, and one of the students made an astute connection with bowling, and the lanes being slicked to create LESS FRICTION!!! WOW, GREAT JOB GUYS!!!

We added these words to our vocabulary rings this week:

melting point 102

boiling point 103

freezing point 104

force 105

friction 106

air resistance 107

motion 108